“Even while at the top of its game, Apple Inc. can seemingly find faults with just about anything, including a bit of itself. The Mac maker is constantly evaluating the market segments in which it wishes to participate and those which it does not. It’s an application of love-hate methodology that inevitably produces its share of casualties,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.
“Take, for instance, the firm’s petite line of headless desktop computers known as Mac minis. They retail between $599 and $799, catering to the once critical sub-$800 PC market,” Jade reports.
Jade reports, “…It comes as little surprise that sources, for whom AppleInsider holds the utmost respect, are now pointing towards the mini’s impending demise. For it’s according to those people that the miniature Mac will soon follow in the wake of its similarly-proportioned counterparts of years past: the PowerBook 2400, the PowerMac G4 Cube, and, most recently, the 12-inch PowerBook.”
Full article here.
Anger rising… rising…
MDN “heavy,” as in “heart.”
What a joke
ALGORE SUCKS!!!
the Apple TV will fill its place
poor lil’ guy.
That would definitely be a mistake unless they plan on introducing an entry level iMac in the $799 range or something to replace the Mac mini. The mini would be selling much better than it is if Apple weren’t just letting it die on the vine like they have been. I personally know of several switchers that would still have Windows only PCs today if it were not for the Mac mini.
Mac mini….dead
17-inch iMac….dead.
Good, maybe Apple plans to release newer and better machines.
Hmm, I don’t think so.
Probably just a mole hunt®.
This sucks. I suspect it has more to do with Apple TV than the Mac mini. A lot of people would rather a Mac Mini as their media centre.
The Apple TV is closed though, so other companies cannot write software for it and use it as part of a solution for customers who don’t want a big box.
Good, perfect time to introduce the mini-tower Mac. More expandable but at the same time, less expensive… but still high-quality. Pleeease Apple!
Apple never understood the promise of the Mac mini, which is totally obvious by the outrageous prices they’re charging for the Mac mini for the next-to-nothingness that you get for them! People WANT to buy the mac mini in droves, but it’s too expensive & underpowered. Apple needs a low-cost machine and this is it, but Apple just doesn’t value it.
Apple NEEDS machines in the $500-$600 price range. I know MANY PEOPLE who would not have switched to the Mac if they had to shell out $1099 for a machine!
I don’t think that AlGore wields that much influence over Apple’s product line. He has too many other irons in the fire (like figuring out how to spin blowing scads of kilowatt hours on cooling his mansion and then lecturing us on our horrible energy-wasting habits).
I’m crunchy on the outside yet soft and chewy in the middle!
Oh, P.S. — Told you we’d eventually defeat the Mac mini. It’s just a silly little toy computer.
Okay, everyone, say it with ME —
I . . . . . . LOVE . . . . . . THIS . . . . . . COMPANY, YeaaahhhhhhhhhHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if it’ll be like the nano replacing the iPod mini?
I think this is a shame
My boss purchased a Macbook Pro, and has fallen in love with Apple, he/we (he writes the checks) were planning on replacing out windoze towers with Mac Minis over the next year (30-40) keeping the 15″ moniters. I really think Apple will loose out here, just my 2 pesos
The reasons to dump the “low-end” Mac mini:
a) poor sales
b) poor profits
c) no need for the low-price segment
d) make room for a “mid-range Mac” at twice the price
The thought of an expandable headless Mac at twice the price is sweet to my ears – as I can no longer afford a Mac Pro – but I suspect b or c are the actual culprits. Apple introduced the mini to counter criticisms from the PC mavens that “Macs cost too much”, now they can show – head to head – that they cost less than comparable PCs … no more need for the minis. Oh course, they would live on in the form factor and in the AppleTV.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page Pod Cast
Don´t get me down,but a like the mac mini,so in my opinion mac mini should exist by the next five years
It may be a bastard child to some but it is beloved by many, myself included. The retired couple looking to replace their OS9 machine, the university wanting to standardize on a durable, swappable, multi platform box, the small business upgrading in waves independent of peripherals.
Unfortunately, all the attention was garnered on home media PC applications which Apple can now do more profitably, selling movies to AppleTV buyers. Reminds me of Sony not embracing mp3 players so as to protect their CD profits. Don’t follow Sony!!
EVERYONE WHO CLAIMS TO CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT SHOULD LIVE IN A HUT MADE OUT OF DIRT AND STRAW! STUPID AL GORE, SPENDING HIS MONEY ON THINGS HE LIKES! HYPOCRITE! AND THIS RANT IS TOTALLY ON TOPIC!!
but seriously… apple letting the mac mini go would make me sad. i like the little guy. it is in serious need of a revision, though… throw in a core2, a DEDICATED GPU (even an x1300 would be fine!), and we’re in business!
Hope not, it’s still nice to have a cheap alternative to PeeCees
I am buying a Mac Mini next month for my son’s birthday. I’ve been holding out until after WWDC, hoping for a better model. This would not be a good thing.
Apple needs to reevaluate the market. At $599-799 the Mini does not compete in the low end. I suspect, because I know of 5 mini sales, that they will find that most of the mini sales are the $1,099 maxed out version. People are buying them because they like the size of the unit. I personally love it, but think they need a model with one PCI-X slot for video upgrade, and a 3.5 inch drive bay. They could increase every dimension by 0.5″ and still be plenty small, but have room for an upgraded system.
As it stands, the Mini is not cheap enough to compete in the low end, nor is it powerful enough for a mid to upper range system. They need to move to one side or the other.
If the mini is really going the way of the dodo, then it is probably because of slow sales of the Apple TV. It just seems that the Mac mini was much more adept as a media center PC than the Apple TV thus causing poor sales of it. In addition, you get a full Macintosh computer that can surf the web and so forth. I always thought that the Mac mini and Apple TV were competitors, which is why I was so adamantly opposed to purchasing an Apple TV. But now that the mini is supposedly being killed. I foresee that Apple probably will merge the products over time. It only makes sense. So then you have a lineup that features Apple TV/mini as the living room appliance that everyone has been waiting 15 years for, iMac as an entry level, Mac Pro as the professional computer. For some reason, I don’t think I will ever see a 1,500-2,000 expandable box from Apple. It does not mesh with Apple’s deisgn philosophy. But then again, I thought Apple would never go to Intel so what do I know.
Yeah, just discontinue everything except the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro and replace the lower end with iPhone and TV.
What needs to happen is that Apple needs to make broader line of products or just let Dell or somebody make them.